STATISTICAL WATCH : Coach Doesn’t Take Grades for Granted

Grant High might not have won the City Section 3-A championship this season, but first-year Coach Howard Levine gives his team passing grades. “There was a sign behind the stands at our last game,” Levine said of Tuesday’s 65-45, second-round playoff loss to Los Angeles. “It said ‘Shortest team in the playoffs, highest GPA in the playoffs.’ I don’t know if that’s actually true, but it shows me we busted our butts to get where we were. And I think it shows that our priorities are in the proper order.” The average grade-point average on the team is 3.5 on Grant’s five-point honors scale. Junior guard Danny Enowitz, who led the team in scoring at 12 points per game, has a 4.5 GPA, also the highest on the team.

Records: Jeff Halpern has a two-year varsity coaching record of 43-5, but he’ll be in a final for the first time when Birmingham plays Granada Hills for the City 3-A championship at the Sports Arena on Friday night. In 1984-85, Halpern’s Van Nuys team was 21-3 but lost in the semifinals to San Pedro. Halpern did not coach basketball last season.

Scoring: Cleveland guard Michael Gray scored 21 points in the Cavaliers’ 87-75 win over Crenshaw in the City 4-A semifinal last Friday. It was the sixth time in his past seven games the junior has scored at least 20 points and was the seventh straight game in which he has led Cleveland in scoring. Gray made 8 of 9 shots and 5 of 5 free throws. . . . Center Kevin Black, Chaminade’s leading scorer, was held to 14 points and nine rebounds in the Eagles’ 60-42 loss to top-seeded Whittier Christian in the quarterfinal round of the Southern Section 1-A playoffs. Black, who had season averages of 22 points and 10.5 rebounds, averaged 29 points and 12 rebounds in the five previous games. . . . Montclair Prep made only 28% of its field-goal attempts in a 75-49 quarterfinal loss to defending Southern Section 1-A champion Crossroads, which shot 49%. . . . With center Don MacLean on the bench with foul trouble, junior forward Shawn DeLaittre scored all 10 of Simi Valley’s second-quarter points in the team’s 55-54 loss to Santa Monica in the Southern Section 4-A quarterfinals on Friday.

Girls basketball: After shooting 42% for the year, Simi Valley shot a dismal 10 for 58 (17.2) in its 68-37 Southern Section 4-A quarterfinal loss to Morningside. The reason for the poor performance might have been the outstanding play of Morningside freshman center Lisa Leslie, who blocked 11 shots.